How is one particular expert's model anything more than conjecture? How could he possibly know all variables that contribute to the rise and fall of wages for all tech employees in Silicon Valley in a span of several years?

How could you be so close-minded to the idea that, while a handful of tech CEOs have certainly been shown to have conspired to suppress wages, that there's no way to know if they actually did successfully suppress them?

@NotJustAPrettyFace I guess I'm not the type to take everything at face value. If you can help explain how one could even begin to settle on a conclusion that wages were suppressed by an estimated $9BB, I'm all ears.

You must recognize that would have to be an estimate based on little more than conjecture.

I could see how this would successfully suppress wages if Google, Apple, and Intel were the only companies in Silicon Valley. But there equally strong forces pushing wages higher than your main competitors:

* The other companies: You don't need a recruiter from one of the three above to help you figure out your market value. There are plenty of companies with less prestige but plenty of cash that will gladly offer you more than you were making, with better perks. And when you get recruited to go work at Google again, you sure as hell won't accept less than you were making at company X.

* Startup exits: Recruiting someone who just cashed out in a startup exit, and has at least $200k+ in his pocket is going to be quite dismissive of recruiters, and is going to push for a high wage. And obviously SV has plenty of exits.

* The supply of good talent: As long as good talent is undersupplied and in high demand, wages are going to be pushed upward. A flood of wannabe engineers trying to cash in is going to push wages upward too, because it raises the cost of successfully recruiting a good employee.

@dave True, but maybe there are others who are betting their future on a degree — or at the very least expect too much out of it.

Throwing yourself on the street and putting yourself at maximum risk is a great way to learn about yourself and the world — especially when you're young. And you can always go back to school.

But once you're in school, it'll be awfully hard to shirk those college loans, or the big comfortable arms of a salary and benefits. College ruins creative minds. It breeds employees, not entrepreneurs.